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Robert Wilkins
Associate Professor of Epithelial Physiology
Robert Wilkins graduated in Physiology from University College in 1990. He subsequently undertook a research degree under the supervision of Professor Clive Ellory and Dr Andrew Hall in the Laboratory of Physiology, studying the cellular physiology of cartilage. After successfully completing his D.Phil., he was awarded a Junior Research Fellowship at Christ Church. Two fixed-term Fellowships at Trinity and Wadham followed, associated with a Research Fellowship from the Arthritis Research Campaign. In January 2004 he was appointed to a University Lectureship in Epithelial Physiology.
Current research examines how altered membrane transport activity is associated with cellular dysfunction and disease, and addresses two problems: (i) the influence of physical and chemical factors on cartilage ion homeostasis; (ii) the role of cell volume regulation in epithelial cancer progression.
At St Edmund Hall, Dr Wilkins holds the American Fellowship in Physiology; as the medical tutor, he overseas the teaching of the four or five Medicine students and two or three Biomedical Sciences students in each year and provides tutorials covering cellular and systems physiology.
Dr Wilkins is the Director of the Biomedical Sciences Course in the Medical Sciences Division and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Medical Sciences 2e (OUP).